ATR

Farnborough International Airshow order highlights - Day 3

Highlights from the third day at Farnborough 2012

With the American regional aviation model broken, consolidation is the answer

The old regional airline, capacity-purchase model is well and truly broken and airlines must evolve to find a more profitable model, Dahlman Rose analyst Helane Becker said in her latest briefing in a harsh evaluation of the sector based on losses and current efforts to restructure.

Regionals have been evolving, expanding capacity purchase portfolios or acquiring branded operations such as Republic’s acquisition of Midwest and Frontier to form Frontier Airlines. Even so, that doesn’t seem enough simply because they are still so many aircraft in a vastly shrinking regional airline system.

With revenue and passenger traffic up, Flybe sets sights on European expansion

Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, announced that it recorded strong gains in revenue and passenger numbers in its fiscal first quarter (Apr-2011 to Jun-2011) and expects to post an annual profit compared to last year's loss. The regional LCC also stated it has made “excellent” progress on its strategic growth plans, with the acquisition of Finncomm Airlines in the quarter. But investors are not fully comfortable with the carrier's plans, selling the stock down since its listing at the end of last year.

Asia's first time flyers the big winners as Paris Air Show PR juggernaut winds down

The major beneficiaries of this week’s frenetic (public relations) activity just outside Paris live half a world away. They are Asia’s emerging travellers – the millions that have never stepped inside an aircraft, but for whom air travel is becoming attainable. That opportunity took a major step forward as Asian carriers – many of whom the world had never heard of a decade or even five years ago – stepped up in front of the world’s media to order narrowbodies for the mass markets they see blossoming at home.

Boeing doesn’t think much of regional aircraft future: Forecast Part II

One of the major take-aways from the latest Boeing Current Market Outlook is its prediction about a diminishing role for regional jets. While it sees no drop in mainline aircraft lifespans, it does say the regional jet fleet lifespan may be about 16 years compared with the 23 to 24 years for single and twin-aisle jets.